I've read that something in your hand like a knife or keys isn't great defense as they have to get close enough to touch you, but at least you have something that way.

I attended my second local REIA meeting last night and was approached by a more experienced investor who indicated that she owns a house I might be interested in.

Sharon V indicates in her posts that most of her leads come from probates whereby the PR is out of state and has no intention of returning to KY (hope I understand that correctly).

The keys are consistency, tracking results, and tweaking for improved results.

For example, if investors are looking for a return of 10% and recent sales to the net operating income (NOI) for those same sales indicate them same cap rate (of course make sure the NOI does not include real estate taxes as an expense) and real estate taxes in the subject property's location represent 2% of market value the resulting capitalization rate for comparison purposes would be 12%.

But even if it did, it makes no sense to even look at a 1031, since the OP indicated that the house would not sell for more than the basis (what was originally paid plus improvements) - so there's no capital gain to try to defer.

If just one, you're a transactional broker, not a leasing agent, and you can't advise on either side, you simply facilitate the deal, brokers have ethical issues with this in putting someone in an installment contract and not being able to advise and additional liability.If someone puts a chunck down for an option and they can't get financing, say at the end of 2 years due to problems that should have been avoided, the broker becomes an easy target as well as the agent.I like options, the key to doing them successfully is knowing how to get the buyer financed at the end, not just putting them in a house, the deal is not done until title changes hands.

I have two key people that do 90% of the work in my business.....a really good Realtor....and the worlds BEST contractor!

Sometimes listed properties are "listed and sold simultaneously" The property is listed with an agent it is sold with a few phone calls to key buyers.

I was very surprised by this, since what I read indicated that the lack of conventional financing is what allows you to buy a these homes for so cheap.